]]>Ever since I was a child, I’ve always enjoyed the fun of going to an SU game. The fact we have this particular major university is a great thing. It’s difficult to imagine what Syracuse would be like without the school bringing in people from out of town – the result is pretty obvious. We can’t take the Pyramid approach and cross our fingers while we sip from a tumbler in a compound, hoping that the Canadians continually arrive to give Congel business. Nothing like those international benefits. This is a continual tug-o-war.

But the one thing that Congel can’t control (for now) is Syracuse University basketball.

We Malones were standing by the staircase, waiting to get to our seats. This moment took place during that strange rule when the ushers make you wait while the game is in play. It’s similar to the traffic cop who pauses your last-in-line vehicle after letting everyone in front of you go.

A college basketball game has a certain appeal to it. While growing up, my favoritism shifted toward professional basketball. After CNY native Pat Riley left the Knicks for the Heat, a lot of air was let out of that balloon.

Money — that’s the appeal. It’s the lack of money that makes college basketball better than pro.

I still watch pro basketball, I’m still a Knicks fan, but the excitement isn’t all there. Sure, the athletes are playing, but to me they’re not playing their hearts out. The games feel slow-paced compared to college games. Perhaps it is due (entirely or in part) to receiving a paycheck. However, this means the college kids are giving it their all for that possible payout. We can always ask Michael Carter Williams or Tyler … Tyler … Ah! Ennis.

(Neither were available for comment.)

As a child, sitting in the stands was exciting. I watched Moten and Wallace and Hopkins. Sure, there were plenty of distinctive names. Those were the names I rooted for and called out: sometimes yelled, sometimes following a sigh. Nevertheless there was always anticipation for the next game that got the blood boiling with hope. There was always a Pavlovian response to competitiveness even though I wasn’t playing.

And it’s comforting to recognize that vicarious competition-driven anxiety is still there.

Whether it was with family or with friends, for a CYO basketball team outing or a party, enjoying an SU game is best enjoyed with a group of people. A basketball game will allow you to run into current friends and will reacquaint you with people you haven’t seen in a while. The Dome is often crowded enough, too, in case you want to make yourself disappear, blending in with the rest of the crowd when you see someone you don’t really care for.

Seating does not matter either. Well, seating does play a little bit of a role. However, even if the game is viewed in the far 300s, there are others around you. There is no need to throw a moody when in the presence of good company: strangers who want the same bold capital “W” against the visiting team.

It’s nice to be surrounded by orange-dressed friends, because strangers do become your best friends. Sometimes friendliness can get a little too close and even cross the line. But, hey, it’s better than Tinder.

The Louisville game was everything we came to expect and more. It proved that we should still wholeheartedly support “New York’s college team” in this time of despair. The first half was close, but it ended with Louisville ahead. However, the Orange pulled their definitive second-half comeback.

We should not feel bad for Jim Boeheim’s previous sins when he cursed at a reporter; regardless if he is stressed or not, it’s a rookie mistake. But the school screwing these athletes over (past errors from former students whose infractions that were swept under the rug) still bothers me. Sure bowing out of post-season now was “perfect timing” during a sub-par season. I feel awful for starting senior Rakeem Christmas, who plays his heart out. But I do second-guess crowd-beloved players like Trevor Cooney, who has been notorious for off-balanced shots and frequent misses. In current reports: Cooney’s approval rating is steadily dropping, paralleling and in competition with President Obama.

Aspects of the Carrier Dome bring back old memories and continue to create new memories. The air may be recycled (it takes more time to notice when compared to a car or an airplane) – it’s the fans’ passions being breathed in and out. Even the Louisville fans making the “L” with their hands was actually adorable. They ended up on the kiss cam, which was nice. Too bad they followed the guy who licked the forehead of the girl next to him. I hope to one day make the kiss cam, but not as an accidental photo-bomber, showing up in the background and behind smooching Cardinal fans.

But in regard to the guy who licked the girl’s forehead — hysterical.

And an engagement on Saturday played out successfully. Huzzuh! (Too bad the same couldn’t be said for the dedication and jersey misspelling.)

From marriage to kids: The little guy in front of the four of us was pumped. He chowed down the Dome Dog. He guzzled his pink lemonade. He donned the foam finger and was waving his arm all about. Yeah, the index finger hit me once, maybe twice, but those things don’t bother me. He was interacting with who seemed to be the “cool aunt” more often than his grandparents or mother.

We left excited and hoarse. It was time well spent. Even with a loss: time well spent. We missed the opportunity to leave via uber gust, but there is always next time. The snow was falling decadently: The flakes patiently took their time hitting the ground, our coats, our noses, our tongues — lake effect snow always tastes better.

Getting out of the parking garage: talk about time not well spent. When all else fails: grab a bite, a beverage, and wait it out. Varsity Pizza wasn’t too busy post-game. We warmed up and enjoyed a couple slices.

]]>Let’s face it: There was a good chance this year’s Syracuse University men’s basketball team wasn’t going to make the NCAA Tournament anyway.

But that’s not the point. The saddest part about SU’s self-imposed postseason ban is that this year’s team, which plays every possession like it’s an NCAA Tournament game and had nothing to do with the violations that led to the ban, deserves the opportunity to either play its way in, or play its way out.

The players lost that chance Feb. 4, when Syracuse officials announced a self-imposed ban that will keep the Orange out of the NCAA, NIT and ACC tournaments. The ban is part of SU’s case pending before the NCAA Committee on Infractions. Syracuse is still waiting for the committee to release the official report of its findings after an investigation that started when SU self-reported violations to the NCAA in 2007. It’s possible the Orange will be hit with additional penalties, such as the loss of scholarships.

After the self-imposed ban was announced, Orange captains Rakeem Christmas, Trevor Cooney and Mike Gbinije released a joint statement expressing their disappointment, but also saying the ban “won’t change how hard we will continue to work in practice and games.”

Before the next game on Wednesday, Feb. 18, against Louisville at the Carrier Dome, the Orange had played three games since the ban and continues to play with heart and hustle. The undermanned Orange lost at Pittsburgh 83-77, won at Boston College 70-56 and lost to No. 4 Duke 80-72 this past Saturday, Feb. 14, before a sellout Dome crowd of 35,446–matching college basketball’s all-time on-campus attendance record set at last year’s Duke-SU game at the Dome.

“I think every game we play, we play as hard as we can, and try to do what we can,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said. “That’s what we’ve been doing all year, and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”

The Orange (16-9, 7-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference before Wednesday) is staying competitive despite an ultra-thin bench created by the loss of injured forwards Chris McCullough and Dajuan Coleman, the inconsistent play of its backcourt (freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph and junior shooting guard Trevor Cooney), and the punch to the gut from the postseason ban.

Against Duke, Gbinije went crazy in the first half with five 3-pointers as the Orange built a 34-23 lead. Duke went on a 26-7 run at the end of the first half and start of the second half and led by as many as 11, but the Orange kept fighting and pulled within four with about four minutes left.

“It’s just frustrating to lose,” Cooney said. “It’s just the way we are losing because we are right there. We just need one or two more (defensive) stops and need to find a way to win close games.”

The loss was particularly frustrating because the Duke game was, for all intents and purposes, SU’s NCAA Tournament. It was also important to SU fans, since Duke has replaced Georgetown as the team Syracuse loves to hate. Last year’s memorable games–SU’s overtime win at the Dome and Boeheim’s first-ever ejection in a loss at Duke–helped make this year’s game once again the hottest ticket in town. And it doesn’t hurt the rivalry that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski (1,005 wins) and Boeheim (964) are the winningest coaches in Division I basketball history.

“I think it’s a great rivalry because we both have built some unique programs, and it gets center stage,” said Krzyzewski, who counts Boeheim among his closest friends. “That’s good for the league, you know.”

What isn’t good for the league is to have one of its marquee programs ineligible for the ACC Tournament. The Orange can still make an impact on the league, however, as its games will count in the standings and therefore in the ACC Tournament seeding.

From a player’s perspective, that doesn’t sound like much to play for. But the Orange players have demonstrated that they’ll keep playing hard and at least continue to make this shortened season an entertaining one.

“We played great at Pittsburgh. We played really good tonight,” Boeheim said after the Duke game. “We’re playing as good as we can play. We played good at Boston College. I don’t think we can play any better, honestly. Especially offensively, this is about as good as we can play.”

What are you doing next September? If you’re a Syracuse University football fan, you’ll be spending a lot of time at the Carrier Dome as the Orange plays its first four games at home in September. For the schedule and ticket information, visit www.Cuse.com.

]]>It was only fitting that the Syracuse Chiefs had legendary pitcher Tommy John as the special guest at their annual Hot Stove Baseball Dinner, because the Chiefs, like John’s left arm, have come back from the dead.

In 1974, John underwent a radical surgical procedure during which a tendon from his right arm was transplanted into his left elbow to replace a torn ulnar collateral ligament. Even the doctor who performed the surgery, Dr. Frank Jobe, put John’s chances of ever pitching again in the majors at 1 in 100.

John, who was 31 at the time, won 164 major-league games after the surgery — still the most ever for a pitcher after he has undergone what is now routinely known as “Tommy John surgery.”

As for the Chiefs, they were on life support after the 2013 season, when the team was saddled with nearly $1 million in losses by the previous management team. But the Chiefs’ board of directors replaced general manager John Simone with Jason Smorol, and the Chiefs reached the playoffs for the first time since 1998 and cut their losses by about 75 percent.

The good vibes from the 2014 season continued Jan. 23, when the Chiefs sold out the 55th Hot Stove Baseball Dinner, as the crowd of 600 set a record for the event.

“Tommy John made a comeback, and the Chiefs are going to make a comeback,” Smorol said. “And he was better after his surgery, and I’m hoping we are better after our comeback.”

The Chiefs still have some work to do, as their actual fannies-in-the-seats attendance of 247,046 in 2014 was a franchise-record low. But before 2014, management reported tickets sold or given away, not actual attendance, and Smorol’s policy of eliminating free tickets meant there were more fans who paid for their seats.

Smorol said he hopes the sellout crowd at the Hot Stove is a sign that more people will come out to NBT Bank Stadium in 2015.

“I hope it says that people are getting on board, I hope it says that we’re doing the right things, and I hope it says that we are doing what we said we’re going to do when we said that we want to build relationships and engage the fans,” Smorol said. “And that people are buying in to the Syracuse Chiefs and that we’re fun and we’re about the community.”

“This is a great outing,” said longtime Chiefs fan Marty Nave, of Syracuse. “All those negative remarks that Syracuse doesn’t support baseball, the stadium should be someplace else, the fans only support a winner. This (event) shows that baseball is alive and well in Syracuse.”

Jim Durkin, of Schroeppel, has been a vendor at Chiefs games for 56 years and has attended just about every Hot Stove event. He said he can’t remember the fans having as much fun as they did as this year’s event.

“It’s such a pleasure to be at this venue and see the fans with their kids having such a wonderful time,” Durkin said. “Jason (Smorol) has been working hard to get the fans back, and I’m proud to be associated with him.

“I can’t wait,” Durkin added, “for opening day.”

Fast Fact

The Chiefs, the defending International League North Division champions, will open their season April 9 at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and play their first home game April 16, also against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. For tickets or more info, visit www.syracusechiefs.com.

Matt Michael is a freelance writer based in Syracuse. Email him at matt42663@hotmail.com.

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]]>http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/syracuse-chiefs-hot-stove-event-sells/feed/0It’s about to get a lot harder for the Orangehttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/its-about-to-get-a-lot-harder-for-the-orange/
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/its-about-to-get-a-lot-harder-for-the-orange/#commentsWed, 21 Jan 2015 08:10:49 +0000Matt Michaelhttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/?p=22808The Syracuse Orange men's basketball team has a number of tough games ahead after holding its own thus far.

]]>Let’s go back to the start of the Syracuse University men’s basketball season in mid-November. What if we had told you back then that …

▪ The Orange would lose four non-conference games for just the second time in coach Jim Boeheim’s 39-year career.

▪ Junior center Dajuan Coleman would never fully recover from knee surgery and have to sit out the entire season.

▪ Starting power forward Chris McCullough would be lost for the season after tearing his ACL against Florida State Jan. 11.

▪ And, two months into the season, Boeheim would still not trust freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph at the end of close games, and he would get little or no production from reserves B.J. Johnson and Chinonso Obokoh.

You would have said the Orange is in big trouble. And you would be half right.

Heading into Tuesday night’s Atlantic Coast Conference game against Boston College at the Carrier Dome, the Orange had so far overcome those obstacles to post a 13-5 overall record and 4-1 mark in the ACC. While a 66-63 victory over Iowa on Nov. 21 in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden remains SU’s best win, the Orange did find a way to win close games against Louisiana Tech, Virginia Tech, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest.

Tyler Roberson goes up for a dunk against Wake Forest.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

But there remains a sky-is-falling feeling that this season could crumble at any time. After the Orange recorded what Boeheim called a “tremendous win” in overtime against Wake Forest Jan. 13, the team turned around and laid an egg in a 66-53 loss at Clemson this past Saturday that snapped SU’s seven-game winning streak.

“It’s hard to get wins in this league,” Boeheim said after the Wake Forest game. “We’ve had two or three that could have easily gone the other way and we got them. We have to keep plugging away and getting a little better. We’ll see what happens.”

What we know is definitely going to happen is that the Orange schedule is going to get significantly more difficult very soon. Following home games against Boston College (8-8, 0-4) and Miami (12-5, 2-2) this week, the Orange will close its ACC season with a stretch of 11 games that includes two against No. 4 Duke and one each against No. 2 Virginia, No. 6 Louisville, No. 12 Notre Dame and No. 15 North Carolina, plus Pittsburgh twice and North Carolina State, which recently upset Duke.

Then there’s that NCAA hammer that’s hanging over SU’s head. Back in late October, the university released a statement announcing the conclusion of an NCAA investigation into probable violations by the athletic department. The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions was expected to announce its findings in a public report in 30 to 60 days, which means it’s about three weeks overdue.

The investigation centered on men’s basketball violations that were self-reported by the university. Self-reporting usually counts for something, but the time span covered by the investigation (reportedly since the early 2000s) indicates that the basketball program could face “lack of institutional control” penalties. Then again, it’s the NCAA, and you never know what you’re going to get with an organization that makes up its rules as it goes along.

Rakeem Christmas.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

In the meantime, the recommendation for SU fans that have been spoiled by the team’s recent success is to savor every victory this season, no matter how it’s accomplished, and keep your fingers crossed about the NCAA investigation. The Orange is about to become the underdog in many of its remaining games, so this season has become all about finding a way to survive.

“Everyone is going to play and just work harder,” said SU center Rakeem Christmas, the team’s most valuable player. “We will all go out and play our game and we will be fine. Everyone is going to step up, and just go out and do what we do. We will do well.”

Fact Fact: Coach Jim Boeheim called center Rakeem Christmas (18.3 points, 9.0 rebounds per game) “probably the best center in the country” and was upset when the mid-season Wooden Award nominees were announced and Christmas wasn’t on the list. The award goes to college basketball’s best player.

]]>After the Syracuse University men’s basketball team’s win over Cornell Dec. 31, coach Jim Boeheim was asked if it was important for the Orange to get off to a good start in Atlantic Coast Conference play.

“As opposed to getting off to a bad start? Yeah, it’s important,” Boeheim said, grinning. “It’s like you have money or you don’t have money; it’s better to have some.”

As the Orange enters its second year in the ACC, this much has become clear: SU has some money, but it’s living paycheck to paycheck.

Michael Gbinije shoots over a Cornell player.Rocco Carbone photo | Syracuse New Times

After routing Cornell to finish its non-conference schedule at 9-4, the Orange opened ACC play this past Saturday at Virginia Tech. The Hokies were picked to finish last in the 15-team ACC in the pre-season media poll, and they played Saturday without their leading rebounder and one of their top scorers, suspended forward Joey van Zegeren.

The Orange frittered away a 19-point halftime lead but still led by 11 with two minutes, 22 seconds left in the game. SU’s poor perimeter defense and even worse foul shooting enabled the Hokies to rally again before the Orange escaped with a 68-66 win.

“I think we’ve improved in some areas, but we’ve still got a long ways to go,” Boeheim said following the game.

The good news, of course, is that the Orange won a close game on the road. Earlier this season, SU lost at Michigan and at Villanova in overtime because they made too many mistakes at the end of the games.

“A win is a win,” said junior guard Trevor Cooney, who scored a team-high 18 points against the Hokies. “The last time we were in a close game (on the road), we lost. So it feels good to be in a close game and win.”

The bad news is it was close enough for SU to lose. We’re repeatedly told how difficult it is to win on the road in the ACC, and that’s true. But this was Virginia Tech, perhaps the worst team in the league, playing without van Zegeren for the entire game and three players who fouled out near the end of the game.

“Really, as much as I’m upset with our defense, if our offense had been any good at all they would have gotten back into the game, but it would have been a 10-point game and that’s pretty good on the road,” Boeheim said.

“I think we’ve improved in some areas, but we’ve still got a long ways to go.” – Coach BoeheimRocco Carbone photo | Syracuse New Times

After another road game Wednesday night at Georgia Tech (9-4, 0-1 in the ACC), the Orange will play its first ACC home game at 8 p.m. Sunday at the Carrier Dome against Florida State (8-6, 0-1 before Tuesday’s game against Virginia Tech).

The Orange is fortunate that the first seven games of its ACC schedule includes most of the league’s worst teams. Not that pre-season polls are always the most accurate, but for what it’s worth six of SU’s first seven ACC games are against the teams picked to finish 10th through 15th (Miami, Clemson, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Virginia Tech). Florida State was picked to finish 8th.

Of its final 11 ACC games, SU has six against current top-25 teams (two against Duke, and one each against North Carolina, Louisville, Notre Dame and Virginia), plus difficult road games at Pitt and North Carolina State.

“It’s going to be a really tough schedule,” said SU freshman forward Chris McCullough. “You always want to play in big games like that. Now, here it comes. We’ve got to come out ready to play.”

If the goal is to make the NCAA Tournament and it’s going to take at least 20 wins to get there, the Orange need to defeat the weaker ACC teams in the first half, and improve enough to get a few wins in the second half that will get the tournament selection committee’s attention. Right now, SU’s biggest win is against Iowa and that’s not going to cut it.

Fast Fact: The Orange ended the year with four non-conference losses for just the second time in coach Jim Boeheim’s 39-year career. The other time was in 1996-97, when SU finished 19-13 and played in the NIT Tournament one year after reaching the NCAA championship game.

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]]>http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/daunting-conference-schedule-ahead-for-su-basketball-team/feed/0SU Basketball Off to a Rough Starthttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/su-basketball-off-to-a-rough-start/
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/su-basketball-off-to-a-rough-start/#commentsWed, 17 Dec 2014 08:07:52 +0000Matt Michaelhttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/?p=21365The Syracuse men's basketball team (6-3) are not playing up to the standards they've set over the past six seasons.

]]>As the Syracuse University men’s basketball team was about to start the 2014-15 season, this reporter said Orange fans who were worried about the team’s lack of experience should take a cue from Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who famously told Packers fans earlier this season to just R-E-L-A-X.

Now, one month and nine games into the season, this reporter has another five-letter word for SU fans: P-A-N-I-C.

The Orange has had a remarkable run, with 26, 30, 27, 34, 30 and 28 wins and one NCAA Final Four appearance in the past six years. Syracuse has lost a lot of great players during that time and always had skilled replacements, whether it was a veteran who had waited his turn (Kris Joseph) or a freshman who played out of this world (Tyler Ennis).

True freshman guard Kaleb Joseph has had to take over the role of starting point guard after last year’s freshman sensation Tyler Ennis elected to go to the NBA.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

But that streak appears to be over, as this year’s squad is enduring growing pains that head coach Jim Boeheim said may be unprecedented in his 39-year tenure.

“Whatever I thought (at the start of the season), they’re not,” Boeheim said after the Orange escaped with a 71-69 win over Louisiana Tech this past Sunday at the Carrier Dome. “I can tell you that right now. This team is not anywhere near a good basketball team. Anywhere.

“I’ve never said that since I’ve been here,” Boeheim added. “Not that they couldn’t be, but they’re not.”

Boeheim didn’t mince words after the Orange nearly blew a 10-point lead against LA Tech with three minutes, 46 seconds remaining. LA Tech is a decent team that may very well qualify for this year’s NCAA Tournament out of Conference USA, but it had just surrendered 96 points in its previous game against Louisiana-Lafayette and it was playing at the Dome, where the Orange had won 55 consecutive non-conference games before losing to St. John’s Dec. 6.

“This isn’t like the last six years,” Boeheim said. “We’re going to struggle to win a game. This team is not going to beat anybody that’s any good unless they play better. And that means all 18 games in the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference).”

So what’s the problem? For starters, all five starters are being asked to do things they’ve never done at the collegiate level, Boeheim said. As a result, the Orange players are making too many mental and physical mistakes.

“Maybe we’re young, all right, maybe,” Boeheim said. “At some point in time you have to learn certain things and we’re not. We’re not learning.”

Boeheim was particularly peeved at turnovers by forwards Tyler Roberson and B.J. Johnson on two separate fast breaks as they tried to catch passes with one hand and fumbled the ball away. Roberson’s turnover with 4:12 left would have boosted SU’s lead to 12 but instead proved to be the turning point that led to LA Tech’s comeback.

Sophomore forward Tyler Roberson goes up for a layup against LA Tech.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

“You learn in about ninth grade that you catch the ball with two hands,” Boeheim said. “And if you can’t catch the ball, we can’t play, we can’t win.”

Junior guard Trevor Cooney knows where his coaching is coming from. The Orange (6-3) plays at No. 7 Villanova Saturday, and faces a daunting ACC schedule that includes six current top 25 teams (Duke, Louisville, Virginia, Miami, North Carolina and Notre Dame).

“He’s looking at the bigger picture,” Cooney said. “He wants to improve and the game (against LA Tech) shouldn’t have been that close. They’re a pretty good team, but we made the same mistakes and we can’t make those mistakes any more.”

And the bottom line, Boeheim said, is that this team can’t even think about being a good team until it stops making those silly mistakes.

“We have a lot of issues to work through and work out and we’ve got to do the fundamental things right to be in the game, not to win, to be in the game and then we’ve got to get better to win those games,” he said. “And right now we’re nowhere near. Not even close. Is that clear?

Crystal.

Fast Fact: If the SU men’s basketball team loses at No. 7 Villanova Saturday, it will have four non-conference losses for just the second time in coach Jim Boeheim’s 39-year tenure.

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]]>http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/su-basketball-off-to-a-rough-start/feed/0Orange Tries to Build A New Offensehttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/orange-tries-to-build-a-new-offense/
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/orange-tries-to-build-a-new-offense/#commentsWed, 03 Dec 2014 08:05:15 +0000Matt Michaelhttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/?p=20391“We have a lot of inexperience at a lot of positions.”

]]>In his usual colorful way, Syracuse University assistant men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins says what the Orange offense is going through right now is like “speed dating.”

In other words, the Orange players are desperately trying to find out everything about each other in a relatively short period of time.

“That’s what happens with young players,” Hopkins said. “We have a lot of inexperience at a lot of positions.”

Through the first three weeks and six games of the season, the Orange offense remained “a long ways away,” according to head coach Jim Boeheim. Only senior center Rakeem Christmas (17.5 points per game before Tuesday’s game at Michigan) and freshman forward Chris McCullough (15.3) have played consistently well on offense.

Take away Christmas and McCullough, and the rest of the team is shooting 37 percent overall and 19 percent (18-for-88) from 3-point range. SU has scored more than 70 points just once, against lowly Kennesaw State, and that’s not going to cut it in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

“You can’t win,” Boeheim said, “with two guys.”

In recent years, the Orange (5-1 before Tuesday) has won a bunch of games because of a balanced offense that had at least four players in double figures and a few others just below that mark. Boeheim expected growing pains entering this season, but he was counting on more from his veteran players: Christmas, redshirt junior Cooney and junior Gbinije, who sat out a year at Syracuse after transferring from Duke.

Despite his early-season shooting woes, Cooney remains the team’s best 3-point shooting option because Johnson (5-for-20), Gbinjie (2-for-16) and Ron Patterson (1-for-10) have been even worse.

“We have to take better shots and take advantage when we get good looks,” Cooney said. “We just have to continue to find the open spots and take advantage of it.”

Gbinije missed the Orange’s first game because of an undisclosed disciplinary reason and hasn’t been able to get on track.

“Somehow, we’ve got to get Mike to play better,” Boeheim said. “That’s paramount in my mind, thinking about this team right now. He’s just not effective, at all. That’s not something we envisioned going into this year.”

Here’s another sobering thought when it comes to the offense: Even with C.J. Fair, Tyler Ennis and Jerami Grant last season, the Orange ranked 10th in the ACC in scoring, at 68.2 points per game. Boeheim said the Orange offense “needs time” just to get to last year’s level, if it ever does.

“We had a number of really, really smart players who understood the game and knew how to play the game for a long time,” Boeheim said. “We’re young. We have guys who are trying to figure out how to play the game.”
And so the “speed dating” continues. And while it may not be love at first sight, Joseph sees the potential for a long-term relationship.

“It’s still early in the season and no team in the country is as good offensively. Coach is just a little more blunt about it,” Joseph said. “We have to keep coming to practice every trying to get better. That’s all we can do.”

Fast Fact: After losing to California Nov. 20 in the 2K Classic (its first November loss in seven years), the Syracuse University men’s basketball team dropped out of the top 25 rankings for the first time since Nov. 16, 2009.

]]>Here’s the first thing that came to Syracuse Crunch season-ticket holder Chuck McCarty’s mind when he heard that Crunch owner Howard Dolgon had arranged for his team to host the “Frozen Dome Classic” – the first hockey game at the Carrier Dome.

“Wow, he’s going to do it again,” McCarty said.

McCarty, who has owned season tickets since the Crunch started in 1994, was referring to Dolgon’s previous can’t-be-done idea, an outdoor game at the New York State Fairgrounds. That game, on Feb. 20, 2010, attracted a then-American Hockey League record 21,508 fans.

So what was McCarty thinking this past Saturday, when a crowd of 30,715 filled the Dome to watch the Crunch defeat the Utica Comets 2-1 and set an attendance record for an indoor professional game in North America?

Crunch player Mike Angelidis had a different word to describe it: “Mesmerizing.” As the Crunch’s starting center, Angelidis was involved in the game’s opening face-off. But before that, Angelidis looked up and skated in a small circle to get a panoramic view of the bodies that soared to rafters.

Frozen Dome Classic.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

“It was just something special to see so many people turn out to watch a hockey game,” Angelidis said. “I think it was bigger than the game; I think it was something for the area, not just Syracuse, but Utica, as well. It’s something everyone can be proud of to see so many people come out for their city and their sports teams and cheer them on and create something special out of it.” “I just wanted to take it all in before the game and then let it go and play hockey,” he added.

Utica’s Alex Friesen scored the historic first goal on the Comets’ first shot just three minutes, 12 seconds into the game. The Comets’ Twitter feed, @UticaComets, quickly tweeted about Friesen, “Pound for Pound, he’s one of the best.”

That was a not-so-veiled jab at Dolgon’s boast that Syracuse would break the indoor record because Syracuse is “the best pound-for-pound sports city in America.”

The record of 28,183 had been set on April 23, 1996, when the Crunch’s NHL affiliate, the Tampa Bay Lightning, hosted the Philadelphia Flyers in a Stanley Cup playoff game at Tampa’s Thunderdome.

The Crunch got the last laugh, of course, setting the attendance record and rallying to win on goals by Joel Vermin in the first period and Yanni Gourde in the second. Crunch goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made those goals stand up by stopping 26 shots after Friesen’s early goal.

And Dolgon? After working for more than three years with Syracuse University to pull it off, he proved once again that with equal parts imagination and elbow grease, the impossible is possible.

“We were supposed to be a town where hockey teams went to die, but we were pretty alive tonight, I thought,” Dolgon said, referring to several former professional teams in Syracuse that went belly up. “This was the place to be, and it’s a tribute to the people of Syracuse, and the people of Utica. Central New York became big time tonight in a sport that nobody believed in. We know we’re a basketball town, we know we have a great football history, but everybody doubted hockey. No more. No doubts.”

Frozen Dome Classic.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

There’s no doubt that what Dolgon, Crunch Senior Vice President of Business Operations Vance Lederman and Chief Operating Officer Jim Sarosy do best is turn a game into an event. Given the Dome as their playground and with the rink set up in the basketball configuration, they were able to use the behind-the-curtain area in a way where, as one fan noted, “You don’t know where to turn.”

There were all kinds of free games and activities for kids; an on-loan hockey Hall of Fame exhibit with cool stuff such as a puck used in the 1901 Stanley Cup final; a display with NHL trophies such as the Lady Byng Memorial trophy for “Most Gentlemanly Player” (who knew?); autograph guests such as NHL Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson and former Crunch “Nasty Boy” Jon Mirasty; and all sorts of Frozen Dome Classic gear, including “Pound For Pound” T-shirts and “Hockey History 28,183+” T-shirts.

Tim and Kristin Walker, of Clay, brought their children –Cameron, 7; Leah, 4; and Aaron, 18 months – to the pre-game party. They are truly a hockey family: Kristin’s parents, Tim and Rosemary Kinsella, of Liverpool, are lifetime Crunch season-ticket holders; Kristin started going to Crunch games when she was 14 and now takes her kids; and Tim and Kristin are both coaches in the Midstate Youth Hockey program (Tim coaches Cameron, and Kristin coaches Leah).

So there was no question they’d be among the record crowd.

“This is awesome,” Kristin said. “It’s so much fun for us and the kids. You can’t go wrong with balloon animals and face painting.”

Jack Schalk, 6, attends Crunch games with his parents at the War Memorial Arena. His grandfather, John Schalk, of Manlius, decided on Saturday to bring Jack to the game, and if they didn’t end up buying tickets 30,714 and 30,715, they were pretty close. Jack and John sat about as far away as anyone in Section 335, Row S.

“We just walked up and bought the seats,” John said. “Actually, you can see it all OK. Much better than I thought.”

Frozen Dome Classic.Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

Dome fans are used to long-distance viewing, and the fans throughout the Dome Saturday seemed to enjoy the spectacle, from the pre-game introductions of former SU greats Joe Morris and Derrick Coleman to the human “wave” late in the game. About the only dud of the night was a lame stunt by Steve-O of MTV’s “Jackass” fame, but that’s a footnote on a night when hockey hit the big time in Syracuse.

“I don’t think we really felt it until we walked out for the game and saw what was going on outside and the energy and the crowd and how big it was,” Crunch coach Rob Zettler said. “It was a special game tonight, really special.”

Matt Michael is a freelance writer based in Syracuse. Email him at matt42663@hotmail.com.

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]]>http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/crunchs-record-setting-game-mezmermizing/feed/0Rink is Under Construction in the Domehttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/rink-construction-dome/
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/rink-construction-dome/#commentsWed, 19 Nov 2014 21:00:20 +0000Casey Fabrishttp://www.syracusenewtimes.com/?p=20271Basketball season might be heating up, but it’s about to get a lot colder in the Carrier Dome.

]]>On Saturday, Nov. 22, the Dome — home to Syracuse University’s football, basketball and lacrosse teams — will be transformed into an indoor ice hockey arena. The Syracuse Crunch will play the Utica Comets in the Frozen Dome Classic, the first professional hockey game in the Dome.

The transformation began early Monday morning. What would typically take about two weeks will be done in three to four days, said Jim Sarosy, chief operating officer for the Crunch.

“We’ll be going 24/7. There will be no breaks until that ice is up and running,” Sarosy said.

He called it an “all hands on deck” situation, with laborers, mechanics, ice experts and Dome personnel contributing to the construction.

The idea of playing a Crunch game inside the Carrier Dome had been tossed around for about three and a half years, Sarosy said.

In February 2010, the Crunch hosted an outdoor game — the first in American Hockey League history — that was “wildly successful.” After that event, the team started looking for the next big thing, which is where the Carrier Dome came in.

“This was, I guess you could say, the logical follow up,” Sarosy said.

But working around the schedules of the teams that play inside the Dome always made it difficult to find a time to build and remove an ice rink. This year, they were able to make it work.

On Sunday, there was a home Syracuse University basketball game. Monday morning, construction of the rink began. On Saturday, the Crunch will play in the Dome, and later that night the ice that was so carefully laid will be cracked and shattered by sledgehammers so the SU basketball team can take on Loyola on Tuesday evening.

It’s a tight schedule, but the Crunch’s resident ice expert, Jim Hartnett, said the plan was to get the core elements of the rink — such as the base and the boards — up by Monday afternoon and have ice by Monday night. From Tuesday on, the focus would be getting the rink “skateable.” He said he hoped to have the ice skate-ready by 3 p.m. Thursday.

Hartnett estimated there would be 30 people involved in getting the rink built and about 50 people breaking it down and returning the Dome to normal after the game. Hartnett is leading the project and working in collaboration with Ice Rink Events.

Though it’s the first time he’s built an indoor temporary rink, Harnett has been building ice rinks for 35 years. But this project is special.

“Being from Syracuse, it’s kind of neat to be working on something this high profile in your own city,” he said.

He’s worked on rinks all over the country, but he’s never gotten attention like this before. Hartnett’s grandsons are reading about the game in the media, and his family, friends and neighbors are constantly asking him how the project is going and what it’s like to be working in the Dome.

As the first professional hockey game to take place in the Carrier Dome, it will be a memorable night, Sarosy said.

“It’s one of those events five years, 10 years, 20 years from now, they can say, ‘Hey I was at the Toyota Frozen Dome Classic,’ the first and probably the only — you know, you never want to say ‘never’ — but probably the only game ever to take place inside of here,” he said.

Michael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

The game has the potential to break the Crunch’s record attendance of 20,183. Sarosy said they’re on track to break the record, and he’s hoping for 30,000 or more people in attendance.

It will be a chaotic and stressful week for the crew, but Sarosy and Hartnett both said they’re looking forward to making history with this game.

“The moment we’re all looking for right now is five minutes into play when you’re standing rink-side and you’re looking up and there’s 30,000-plus people cheering on for your product, knowing that the record’s in hand, the ice is successfully built, that’s the rewarding part for the hundreds of people that have helped make this happen,” Sarosy said.

When people walk into the Dome on Saturday, Harnett said, he thinks they’ll be shocked to see the home of Jim Boeheim and SU basketball and football turned into an ice hockey rink.

“And maybe a little cooler, too,” he said jokingly.

Crunch Aim for the Record

by Matt Michael

What do you get when you take the first professional hockey game at the Carrier Dome, add a record crowd, and throw in the likes of Steve-0 from MTV’s Jackass? The biggest Dome party this side of Duke-Syracuse basketball.

The Syracuse Crunch will host the first professional hockey game at the Dome when it faces the rival Utica Comets in the Frozen Dome Classic at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 22. The Crunch will easily break the American Hockey League indoor attendance record of 20,672, but it’s also gunning for the professional indoor record of 28,183 set at Tampa’s Thunderdome in 1996 for a Stanley Cup playoff game between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The ice rink will be set up the same way as the basketball court at the Dome, so the seating capacity is more than 30,000. On Feb. 1, an NCAA on-campus record of 35,446 fans attended the Syracuse-Duke basketball game at the Dome.

The Frozen Dome Classic will be a day-long event, with a college game between Division III powerhouses Utica and Oswego at 3 p.m., a Syracuse vs. Utica law enforcement charity game before the Crunch game, a Crowne Plaza Syracuse pre-game party from 3 to 6 p.m., and free autographs from former Syracuse University and New York Giants running back Joe Morris and NHL Hall of Famer Glenn Anderson. And, to top it all off, comedic stuntman Steve-O will take part in what promises to be an outlandish on-ice stunt during intermission of the Crunch-Comets game.

Tickets from $20 to $50 remain available, with discount prices for groups of 15 or more. Tickets can be purchased at the Crunch office at the War Memorial Arena, the Carrier Dome Box office, by calling the Crunch at 473-4444, or at any Ticketmaster outlet.
Matt Michael is a freelance writer based in Syracuse.Email him at matt42663@hotmail.com.

]]>The thing about always having great players is that you’re always going to lose great players.

In recent years, Syracuse University basketball fans have lost sleep wondering how the Orange would replace the likes of Wes Johnson, Rick Jackson, Kris Joseph, Brandon Triche, Dion Waiters and now C.J. Fair.

But history should tell us, as Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers famously told Packers fans earlier this season, to just R-E-L-A-X.

Take the point guard position, for example. As quarterback of the offense, the point guard is arguably the most important player on the court. From 2008-09 through last season, the Orange smoothly transitioned at the point from Johnny Flynn to Scoop Jardine to Michael Carter-Williams to Tyler Ennis, winning 26, 30, 27, 34, 30 and 28 games in those six years.

Now it’s freshman Kaleb Joseph’s turn to take over the point and lead a team that lost its three leading scorers (Fair, Ennis, Jerami Grant), two leading rebounders (Grant and Fair), one of the best point guards in the country in Ennis and its best defensive player off the bench in Baye Moussa Keita.

“Some young guys played well for us last year and obviously had a tremendous effect on what we were able to do,” said SU coach Jim Boeheim, who’s starting his 39th year at SU with 948 career victories. “Certainly we feel we have young, talented guys, and we think they are very capable of doing what we need to have them do.”

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It’ll all start with the 6-foot-3 Joseph, a four-star recruit from Nashua, N.H. Before SU’s first exhibition game against Carleton University Nov. 1, Boeheim said Joseph was just as talented and worked just as hard as any of his recent point guards, but the real test would be how he handled game conditions.

Joseph aced that first test against Carleton, which has won eight of the past 11 national championships in Canada and was 10-1 in exhibition games against U.S. college teams. Joseph kept the Orange in the game with 11 points in the first half and finished with a team-high 19 points with four assists and one turnover as SU rallied from a 15-point deficit to win 76-68.

SU’s most highly-touted freshman, 6-10, 220-pound forward Chris McCullough, also played well against Carleton. A five-star recruit from the Bronx, McCullough scored 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting with six rebounds in 34 minutes.

McCullough will be joined on the frontline by 6-8 sophomore small forward Tyler Roberson (2.2 points and 1.9 rebounds per game in limited time last season) and 6-9 senior center Rakeem Christmas. In the first half against Carleton, Christmas picked up three fouls and didn’t score. In the second half, he asserted himself and sparked the comeback with 13 points.

With 6-9 junior forward DaJuan Coleman still recovering from a knee injury and 6-7 sophomore forward B.J. Johnson and 6-9 sophomore center Chinoso Obokoh still learning the ropes, the Orange will need Christmas to stay out of foul trouble and attack the basket the way he did in the second half against Carleton.

SU’s offense, which ranked 10th in the ACC with 68.3 points per game last season even with Fair, Grant and Ennis, remains a concern. It would help open the floor if junior shooting guard Trevor Cooney started hitting more consistently. Cooney made just 26 percent of his threes in the last 12 games last season and was 0-for-4 from 3-point range against Carleton.

Ron Paterson, a 6-2 sophomore shooting guard, could push for more playing time after sinking 4-of-5 3-pointers and scoring 15 points against Carleton.

Junior guard/forward Michael Gbinije might be SU’s most valuable player. He’ll likely be among the team’s leaders in minutes played as a back-up at three positions (point guard, shooting guard and small forward), and SU is at its best defensively when he’s on the floor.

The Orange, ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll and No. 24 in the USA Today/Coaches poll, opens its regular season Friday, Nov. 14, against Kennesaw State at the Carrier Dome in the first game of the 2K Classic. Whether SU climbs in the polls will depend on how well Joseph, McCullough, Paterson and others follow in the footsteps of their predecessors as worthy replacements for the departed stars.

“We have a few question marks coming into this season, but I do think we are better than that,” Gbinije said. “I think we are going to have a great season this year and overcome some (low) expectations.”

SU vs. DukeMichael Davis Photo | Syracuse New Times

No Bowling for SU Football

By losing to No. 22 Duke University 27-10 this past Saturday on Senior Day at the Carrier Dome, the Orange football team fell to 3-7 and will not be eligible for a third consecutive bowl appearance even if it wins its final two games of the year at Pittsburgh Nov. 22 and at Boston College Nov. 29.

Against Duke and throughout the season, the Orange hung in there but just couldn’t overcome myriad injuries, particularly at the quarterback position with starter Terrel Hunt and backups AJ Long and Austin Wilson all missing time.

“You always want to win a game you play, but it was still a fun season and I wouldn’t take anything back,” said senior nose tackle Eric Crume. “It was unfortunate that we had a lot of injuries, and we didn’t come through on some of the execution things this season. I still had a blast, playing with a lot of great guys and playing for the coaches that I really love.”

The 23rd-ranked Syracuse University men’s basketball team will open its 2014-15 regular season this weekend with 2K Classic Tournament games against Kennesaw State (7 p.m. Friday) and Hampton (4 p.m. Sunday) at the Carrier Dome.